Protestlytizing

Leaving on a plane for San Diego Comic-Con in 6 hours. Please post your “geek protest sign” slogans in the comments.

I will have this comic as a special print available at The Topatoco Booth (#1231) in the Webcomics Pavillion. One of the signs is left blank so that I can personalize a slogan for you when you buy the print. It looks like this:

I’m not going to comment on the WBC protesting comic-con (because it promotes false idol worship) since it will just lead to them getting more attention. Dumb, hateful people are predictably hateful and dumb. Something kind of neat is happening as a result of the protest, though. Check out #godlovesbatman on Twitter [more info here]. Thanks to @melsh for titling the comic.

[skip the rest if you’ve read Monday’s blog post. just some SDCC updates and reminders]

SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!

I will be at the Topatoco booth (#1231) in the Webcomic’s Pavilion (just around the corner from Penny Arcade).

I will have a few shirts, my book, various comic prints, a few left over large prints, the special print mentioned above, and a new item:

Sketch Cards! For $5 I will do a quick sketch for you on a nice card that looks like this:

Pretty neat, huh? Sketches in HE books (that you buy) are free, and larger commissioned pieces are priced depending on complexity.

COMIC-CON EXCLUSIVE “Browncoat vs. Red Shirt” SHIRTS!!!

I did a couple of shirt designs for Quantum Mechanix, fine online retailer of various Firefly/Serentiy, Dr. Horrible, Battlestar and Star Trek Merch, that will be exclusively sold at Comic-Con (booth 3251, which is mid-hall, toward the back wall, near the break area) and likely never again. Pick a side and display your colors proudly.

DO YOU WANT A SAN DIEGO FANCY BASTARD MEETUP?

FB’s JustChristineand JonnyAce wants to organize a meetup for sometime during the con. Thursday night I will be at W00tstock. If you are interested make a comment. Follow me on Twitter for minute to minute updates as towhat’s going on while I’m at Comic-Con.

“CAMPERS HATE FRAGS”
“You can’t take the sky from me!”
“Let he who is without rhythm pick the first instrument.”
“Jebus loves me, this I know, for the Simpsons tells me so.”
“WE HATE PEOPLE WHO SAY FAG!” (the subprint would read “I’m looking at you, XboxLIVE.”)

Right, you're not going to comment. You're just going to post a link to the news story and counter-protest Twitter page, write and draw a comic about it, offer to sell prints of it, and invite others to comment on it down here in order to spread it even further.

But that's totally staying above the issue and not commenting on it at all.

/SARCASM

Still a funny comic, though I dunno if Comic Con will be happy about you selling prints with their logo.

As a christian (and a baptist, myself), I would suggest using the words of our Savior.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" -Matthew 7:1-3

The idol worship of others is none of their business. As christians, we're not called to condemn others but to share Christ with them. *sighs* Anyways, that's a very long rant and I should probably stop now.

But, your comment (I don't consider it a rant) makes a very good point.

It isn't about reading the Bible and having an intelligent discussion on the Word…it's all about who can scream their personal view the loudest and claim it in the name of God, or whomever.
I would rather listen to 1 person with an opposing view, than 9 who shriek their Twit pick of Bible verse.

But, as we all know…it's the squeaky wheel that gets the intarwebz aTwitter, and that gets on the 24 hour news cycle.

I was (unlike Phelps) born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, where WBC is located, and I've worked with various groups opposing them over the years.

Responding with humor is the perfect solution. They want anger, and don't know how to react to being laughed at. At one counter-protest we organized a chorus line of men singing "My Boyfriend's Back And You're Gonna Be In Trouble." They left during the second verse.

Here's why they want to provoke angry responses: It's a con job.

Fred Phelps has a long history of using his religious trappings to advance con games, starting with having his children sell "fund-raising" candy bars and other items year round to line his pocket, and getting more and more involved. This is the most convoluted of his schemes, but to a large extent, it's just another con. Here's how it works:

1. The Equal Access to Justice Act mandates that legal fees and costs incurred in the process of suing the government to overturn a law on civil rights grounds (amongst other issues) must be paid by the governing body that passed the law.

2. Fred Phelps made his children attend law school, and many of them are practicing lawyers for Phelps Chartered law firm.

3. The Phelps cult shows up and engages in the most outrageous activities and uses the most offensive slogans they can come up with, in an effort to get cited for violating an anti-picketing or flag desecration law, or to provoke the passage of one.

4. If they are cited or such a law is passed, they sue.

a.) If they lose, Fred pays nothing to his children. On to the next picket.

b.) If they win, Fred makes up whatever legal fees and billable hours he thinks he can get away with and hands a bill to the government.

5. Rinse and repeat.

Properly executed, it's a license to print money, provided one has no ethics, compassion, morality or soul. Which, of course, makes it the perfect scheme for "Reverend" Phelps.

I go to a non-denominational Christian Church, so I believe that scum like this are going to have to answer for crap like this. I would really like to see Glenn Beck answer to God for all his BS too. If that were a Youtube vid, you'd watch it. Just to see Beck cry real tears for once.

Hmm. That's the first time I've heard that theory. I'm not sure whether to take it seriously or not. One would think he could scam more money out of people by just being a standard tort lawyer, or running some other scam that doesn't put him at risk of getting killed with a brick to the face.

It's not a theory. This is his standard practice. As for making money as a lawyer, he tried that. Mostly nuisance suits, and he lost more often than not when he couldn't cajole an out-of-court settlement out of the defendant.

He got disbarred for harassing court officers, accusing all the judges of conspiring to make him lose cases, and suborning perjury, if I recall correctly. He now is prohibited from practicing as a lawyer before state or federal courts, permanently.

He's a con man *and* a religious nut case, not a con man *pretending* to be a religious nut case. Sort of a Renaissance Man of douche-baggery.

Oh. OK then. As long as they really do believe this stuff and aren't just saying it as part of some elaborate scam, my worldview remains mostly unchallenged. I was torn over which would be worse, but now I don't have to. Because "both" definitely qualifies as "worse."

I think it was these guys who were protesting outside the McEnry Convention Center when FanimeCon '10 was in town. They were shouting from the sidewalk of San Carlos Street and we fans were shouting back, and the SJPD just HAD to intervene! Best Con Ever!